JMEC22 Alumni Profile - Ami Watanabe

CASE STUDY

Ami Watanabe - JMEC22 Participant & Daijob Scholarship Recipient

Background

Although Ami was born in Japan, she has spent more than half her life abroad. Growing up Ami spent 5 years in South Africa and returned to Japan for her high school education, which included an exchange program in Thailand. Ami then pursued an undergraduate degree in Canada. Ami currently works for Materialise selling software to the surgical and engineering field. Ami’s background in research has helped to keep her interest in academia alive through her serendipitous academia related career and the opportunity at JMEC.

Reasons for Participating

Ami subscribes to Daijob and when jumped at the opportunity when she received an email about JMEC. She was attracted to the academic nature and practical application of a JMEC certificate. Ami applied for JMEC as well as the Daijob scholarship. Applying for the scholarship gave her a chance to solidify her goal for the program, to learn how to research and write a professional business plan. Ami is always eager to pursue a challenge.

JMEC Experience

At JMEC Ami was inspired by the lectures which are taught by professionals in their field. Ami noted her JMEC team (whom she still keeps in contact with) was diverse, smart, and was talented in many different areas, which she attributes to the successes of her project. Ami took the opportunity to network with not only her team members, but the other JMEC22 participants, mentors, and consultants. Although frustrating at the start, she found JMEC to be useful and the overall experience genuinely fun. She felt it was absolutely worth the time commitment, money, and the effort she put into the program. Ami still cherishes her JMEC experience and has “all good memories,” and would “highly recommend” to apply for the Daijob scholarship.

Going Forward

Upon completion of JMEC, Ami continued her current job with a new understanding of her company and herself. Although out of her comfort zone at times, Ami “acquired a wider perspective” of the business world, and found a new appreciation for her job. Through market research, JMEC confirmed the importance of talking to customers, which she uses in her career today.